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Some Awesome People

Saturday, May 11, 2013

St. Damien of Molokai

(1840 – 1889)

Easter: May 10th

Joseph De Veuster, the future Father Damien, was born at Tremelo in
Belgium, January 3rd, 1840. His was a large family and his father was a
farmer-merchant. When his oldest brother entered the Congregation of the
Sacred Hearts (called 'Picpus' after the street in Paris, where its
Generalate was located), his father planned that Joseph should take
charge of the family business. Joseph, however, decided to become a
religious. At the beginning of 1859, he entered the novitiate at Louvain,
in the same house as his brother. There, he took the name of
Damien.

In 1863, his brother, who was to leave for the mission in the Hawaiian
Islands, became ill. Since preparations for the voyage had already been
made, Damien obtained permission from the Superior General to take his
brother's place. He arrived in Honolulu on March 19th, 1864, where he was
ordained to the priesthood the following May 21st. He immediately devoted
himself, body and soul, to the difficult service of a "country
missionary" on the island of Hawaii, the largest in the Hawaiian
group.

At that time, the Hawaiian Government decided on a very harsh measure
aimed at stopping the spread of "leprosy," the deportation to
the neighboring island of Molokai, of all those infected by what was
thought to be an incurable disease. The entire mission was concerned
about the abandoned "lepers" and the Bishop, Louis Maigret
ss.cc., spoke to the priests about the problem. He did not want to send
anyone "in the name of obedience," because he knew that such an
order meant certain death. Four Brothers volunteered, they would take
turns visiting and assisting the "lepers" in their distress.
Damien was the first to leave on May 10th, 1873. At his own request and
that of the lepers, he remained definitively on Molokai.

He brought hope to this hell of despair. He became a source of
consolation and encouragement for the lepers, their pastor, the doctor of
their souls and of their bodies, without any distinction of race or
religion. He gave a voice to the voiceless, he built a community, where
the joy of being together and openness to the love of God gave people new
reasons for living.

After Father Damien contracted the disease in 1885, he was able to
identify completely with them: "We lepers." Father Damien was,
above all, a witness of the love of God for His people. He got his
strength from the Eucharist: "lt is at the foot of the altar that we
find the strength we need in our isolation..." It is there that he
found for himself and for others the support and the encouragement, the
consolation and the hope, he could, with a deep faith, communicate to the
lepers. All that made him "the happiest missionary in the
world," a servant of God, and a servant of humanity.

Saint Damien de Veuster in bed shortly before he died in 1889
at the Kalawao settlement on the Hawaiian island of Molokai.
PHOTO: CNS

Having contracted "leprosy" himself, Fr. Damien died on
April 15th, 1889, having served sixteen years among the lepers. His
mortal remains were transferred in 1936 to Belgium, where he was interred
in the crypt of the church of the Congregation of Sacred Hearts at
Louvain. His fame spread to the entire world. In 1938, the process for
his beatification was introduced at Malines (Belgium): Pope Paul VI
signed the Decree on the "heroicity of his virtues" on July
7th, 1977. He was canonized on October 11th, 2009.

In Father Damien, the Church proposes an example to all those, who find
sense for their life in the Gospel, and who wish to bring the Good News
to the poor of our time.